


物の哀れ - The Pathos of Things

by Rose_Bride



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bad Parenting, Birth Control, Caught in the Act, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, First Dates, Fluff, Gen, Mild Smut, One Shot, POV Minor Character, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pregnancy Scares, Rare Pair Week 2019, Rough Kissing, Well almost, poor Sora
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-23 14:07:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19702921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rose_Bride/pseuds/Rose_Bride
Summary: A term for the awareness of transience of things, and both a transient gentle sadness  at their passing as well as a longer, deeper gentle sadness about this state being the reality of life.This is where I will post all the works of this year's rare pair week (the summary will update as I keep adding works):Day 1: Nostalgia (Janushipping)Day 2: Summer (Janushipping)*Smut Warning*Day 3: Rogue (Mechanicalshipping)Day 4: Legends (Escapeshipping)Day 5: Regret (Robustshipping)Day 6: Melody (Classicalshipping)





	1. Horrow Show

It was supposed to be a fun night.

Okay, maybe ‘fun’ was stretching it a little too much, but this was supposed to be at least a ‘normal’ night. One where they could spend a bit of time without... doing what they usually always did when they were left alone.

When she appeared on his doorstep he had been a bit surprised, usually she always texted him before coming over, and when she rather than walking straight to his room, she sat on the couch he tried to think about a way to tell her they couldn’t risk being on the couch, lest Sora found them in an unfavorable situation when he came back from trick and treating.

Then, when she simply turned on the TV, and asked if he had Netflix, he couldn’t do much except nod, the red and black menu showed up.

She went straight for the horror movies.

“It’s Halloween right? I thought it would be... nice, to watch a scary movie together.” Ruri said this with the most tight-lipped smile he’d ever seen.

Aren’t they a little too old for celebrating Halloween?

Aren’t scary movies too silly for people like them?

Those were the questions that he wanted to ask her, but Dennis kept his mouth shut and went to sit next to her.

No, not really next to her, maybe more like... a respectable distance.

He did what he did best and rather than sitting like her – back ramrod and the one hand that was not clutching the remote, was digging tightly on her skirt – he made his best to lean into a relaxed pose. At this point she had gone twice through the full horror movie selection, Dennis was not very knowledgeable on the genre, so he was at loss of how to help here, unless...

“Let’s try Sora’s profile.” He could feel her sharp look even though he did not look at her directly. “He loves these movies, maybe there’s something good on his listing.”

The change was quick, and they were both met with Sora’s preference being a weird mix of cartoons and scary movies. They all looked like they were very gory movies, and he certainly had no interest on watching that, he didn’t care how much the fake blood would look like ketchup, it was out of the question, then one curious caption appeared.

It looked like a cheap Halloween costume, a face that wanted to be scary but failed at it, even with the cape and the top hat.

He recognized the title.

“I’ve heard that one is good.” A lie, he hadn’t heard anything from it, but it did look like a typical low-budget ghost film; nothing he couldn’t deal with.

Of course never before he thought that he would have to force himself not to jump from his seat because of a pop-up book.

_“I'll soon take of my funny disguise take heed of what you've read_

_And once you see what's underneath you're going to wish you were dead”_

.

.

.

_“I'll wager with you. I'll make you a bet. The more you deny the stronger I get.”_

Ruri had to bit her lip to avoid gasping when the last image of that dammed book appeared on the screen.

_“Can’t you go to sleep already? You won’t be able to sit guard if you don’t.”_

_“But I-”_

_“There’s nothing out there, that’s what I’m here making sure of, go to sleep”_

_“Are you saying I’m a liar?”_

_“What I’m saying is that last time you said someone followed you to the camp, we checked the perimeter twice and found nothing, and **maybe** you’re just tired.”_

It was just a movie, just a movie, and this had been _her_ idea.

Why? Because it’s Halloween and she always watched scary movies in Halloween with...Shun.

She had to close her eyes when the black figure creeped on top of the car. When she opened them again, the woman was bathing with her clothes on. That woman was scarier than any other monster that was supposedly haunting her, she felt herself cower into her seat whenever she had one of her outbursts, when she yelled something hurtful, and Ruri could _see_ that the kid was the one in true danger.

She wanted to yell at him to run away every time; her eyes wandered to Dennis, who looked as calm as he usually did, if anything he looked almost bored with the whole thing, at first sight that was what it looked like, right now, he was sitting upright and stiff, his eyes looked at anything but the screen when something scary happened and even then his finger were digging too hard into his arms.

If only she had been as good at reading him back then...

The traitorous memory of Shun allowing her to curl up to him whenever she got to scared kept coming to her, back then his annoyance at her fear, and the snide comments he made at the screen had been reassuring and even funny at times.

Of course back then, the monsters under her bed had all been fake.

Ruri had been too focused on her thoughts that when the actual monsters finally appeared on-screen had her practically jumping in her seat, it wasn’t until she had her own hand covering her mouth that realized she had screamed too.

That was when she felt it.

One of his hands was almost not quite placed on his shoulder, while the other was frozen mid-movement in front of him.

Had he meant to... hug her? His mouth was wide open, and she could see he was trembling a little bit.

It he meant to do that, it hadn’t been to comfort her, it had been because he was scared too.

“Sorry, I don’t know what I-” Dennis had begun to withdraw his hands again.

“It’s fine.” She said and before he could scoot farther into the corner of the couch she leaned her head on his shoulder.

Dennis sharp intake of breath had her smiling, so, she didn’t object when his arm finally sneaked fully around her, taking ahold of her waist.

Not even when it made her move closer to him.

He was scared, and so was she.

There was nothing wrong with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I think this is the first time I write something remotely comforting about these two so I hope you guys like it. In case you didn't guess, the movie they're both watching is Babadook, because I felt the themes of that movie apply a lot to these two :P


	2. Summer Heat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lol, yes another Janus fic, promise is the last one of this week :P
> 
> Fun fact: chronologically this happens a few weeks after my other fic [ deep cut ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15297639), no need to read it, but it will provide the context.

**[My period is late…]**

Dennis had been staring at the screen of his duel disk for a while now, wondering who the unknown number was, and how to answer, at first he had thought it was one of his students, maybe apologizing for getting late, but after doing a quick headcount he realized everyone was here as usual.

And really, he has never shared his personal number with any of the students.

This had a very easy solution; he could simply ask who this was and if maybe they had the wrong number, except… there were a lot of warnings around about not answering to unknown numbers calls or text as they could be using some type of hacking that gave them access to personal data or maybe even steal his identity.

He laughed at that though, who would want to deal with _his_ life anyway? The duel disk chirped again with another message notification, same number.

**[Right, I forgot… this is Ruri...]**

Ruri? How had she gotten his number? And why was she texting him now? After almost no word two weeks after…

This couldn’t be… no, this had to be a mistake right? Maybe there was a huge misunderstanding and she meant that she was late on setting up another…ah… meeting.

_‘Get your mind out of the gutter, what else does a woman mean when they say ‘period’ and ‘late’ in the same sentence?’_

“Teacher! Teacher!! TEACHER!!!” His eyes focused again on what was in front of him and there they were, his beloved students, some of them holding a giggle, others annoyed, but most of them actually looked worried about him.

His duel disk said that lunch had been over for over 10 minutes now, and he never started a class late, never. Well, there is a first time for everything right?

_‘Sure, see how well your other ‘first time’ worked?’_

“Teacher, are you okay?” The one kid who had been yelling before asked. “You look so white, as if you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I did,” He said, with the brightest smile he could muster, the kids all leaned in, clearly expecting a punchline with the same eagerness as if he would be talking about his deepest secret. “I’ve seen the ghost of premature fatherhood ready to haunt me.”

The only sound around was the one of the cicadas, all crying as they should in the middle of summer.

Dennis almost slapped himself at saying such an inappropriate thing in front of this kids, it didn’t matter that the oldest one has barely turned 10 this month, if any of them said anything to the parents…

“It looks like the heat is so strong today that it has your teacher saying nonsense, right?” It was Asuka who said that, and in cue all the kids laughed and even shared their sympathies for the awful heat. “As you know, it’s dangerous to do dexterous work when the heat has gotten to one’s head, so just for today your teacher class will be dismissed, okay?”

Before he could protest, two things happened: the kids cheered and asked him to take care of himself and then the moment their backs where turned he felt a large, harsh hand gripping his shoulder so tight that he could feel his fingers digging into his skin.

He barely had time to react when he realized Kaito had dragged him into the men’s lock room.

The moment they were alone, Dennis felt himself being shoved into one of the benches a little too harshly, Kaito was standing, glaring at him from the above.

That was when it clicked: He had been glaring at him since the morning, but Dennis had tuned it out, since most of the time he glared at everyone anyway.

Kaito was an instructor like him – only he dealt with the older groups – all instructors had each other’s numbers for emergencies or simply job announcements.

“You gave her my number…” He said, it was not a question, so, he expected no answer. “Why?”

“Why don’t _you_ tell me?” Kaito said, his teeth grinding so much, he could almost hear it. Dennis should have realized that morning that his glare was a little too intense, as if the anger was anew, maybe she had asked it barely yesterday, heck maybe even this morning.

“She didn’t tell you?” He said, and before the full question left his lips he realized it was a mistake, because with his casual tone it sounded as if he was mocking him.

He definitely looked like he wanted to punch him.

_‘It could definitely help knock some sense into that birdbrain of yours.’_

“What you said to the kids…” For a single moment his face broke from his anger and he looked almost embarrassed to say it. “About premature fatherhood, does it have to do with her?”

“…Yes…” He said and rather than saying anything else, he showed him the two messages on his disk still waiting for an answer.

“I knew you had visited her… she made me swear not to say anything to anyone.” Kaito said, his voice lowering to almost a whisper deep in thought. “I never thought that _this_ is what she was hiding.”

“You mean Shun?” He asked. “Is he keeping tabs on his not-actually-little-sister?” Dennis didn’t know why he felt so agitated by the discovery, he certainly had no right to be, but the memory of Ruri’s anger was flashing before his eyes.

When Kaito’s fist still laid at his side – not just that, but it was not a fist anymore – Dennis looked at him, his eyes looked surprised rather than angry, but then he closed them a he got the feeling he was ashamed in his behalf.

“He was too insistent, if I didn’t give in he would have done it himself, and that would have been disastrous.” He said, and then gave a long sight. “She needs her space, and she knows what I do because I told her and I’ve never interrupted her privacy if that’s what you’re thinking, and it doesn’t mean that you’re still not a major idiot.”

Yes, that was the one thing he agreed with him. Academia was not exactly focused on anything but dueling lessons, but that was a very sorry excuse because he was not a child anymore, and he had to take responsibility.

“You better go check on her, _double-check_ if necessary.” It was obvious he was not talking just about Ruri. “And if something come up, deal with it, _quickly_ , neither of you can deal with this right now.”

.

.

.

Every step towards his apartment was taking extra time, as his legs felt like they were made of lead, and the plastic bag he was carrying did not help.

Dennis had resolved that he would call her and ask her to come over to his apartment but first he needed to be in the apartment and then he needed to make sure Sora wouldn’t be around, or at least he would be immersed enough in his own things to not notice he had a guest.

_‘This would be much easier if you had not chickened out of going to her place.’_ Yes, he knew that, but he also didn’t think it would be wise.

Just as he was thinking of how to manage everything, and stopped right as he was about to go into the hallway leading to his door.

A back covered of long, dark hair was there, waiting.

“Hi.” The easy smile and wave of his hand left him immediately, as if he was in autopilot mode. 

“You didn’t answer, so I came.” She said instead of greeting, which was fair, because he had tried to put together an answer with no success for at least an hour. “Kaito told me to get off early today, so you’re also very late.”

Right, he had wandered off for a while, first in the park, killing time, then around the block where the pharmacy was open until he finally decided to go inside and tried to shrivel under the judgmental stare of the clerk when she passed his purchases.

Then, he had wandered again, this time nowhere in particular, trying to get rid of the hollow feeling in his stomach.

She raised her eyebrows, as if she could tell exactly what had happened in his day, maybe she did.

“Come on in,” He said, and peaked around trying to see if Sora was in the living room playing videogames or something, but it was empty. He withheld his sigh of relief and quickly tried to rush her over to his room...no, they had to go to the bathroom, that’s where they needed to do the... checking.

When the door closed behind them, she had a strange look in her eyes, examining the place or something similar. Then he realized she was looking at the shower curtain, and then at the toilet back and forth, as if she couldn’t believe her eyes.

Right, this was a western style apartment, and hers was a regular one.

Nothing he said could make this weirder, so he just silently pulled out the boxes from the bag and put them in the sink.

“There are instructions inside the boxes, um, I will give you some privacy okay?” He said, ready to leave the room.

“I’m not pregnant, Dennis.”

He thought that he knew what relief felt like, but nothing compared to the feeling of his knees going weak and wanting to cry for all the tension accumulated through the day leaving in one long sigh. “It was lucky that I had an appointment today…and I'm not…I’ve always been irregular, I guess I just panicked.”

So obviously she had seen fit to push some of her panic to him.

“It’s fine.” Except, it wasn’t. “I'm glad it’s over.” She tilted her head at the last word.

It was only now he noticed his knees had really given out and he had collapsed on the floor, his back to the door.

And Ruri was now sitting in between his legs, she leaned in until he could feel her clothes brushing against his shirt.

“Ruri?” Her name came out breathless because her hand was stroking the inside on her thigh, up and down. “T-this is a bad idea, n-next time it could be more than just a scare.”

He was a fool, because he should be trying to keep his gasps within his mouth, and his hand shouldn't be circling her wait pulling her closer, and he definitely shouldn’t be kissing her as eagerly as he was.

“It's okay, I got pills too.” Whispered against his mouth, her hand was now finally cupping him thorough his pants.

And the last shred of protest left his body.

.

.

.

_‘This was wrong.’_ She thought for the second time in the last couple minutes

But it never lasted too long while his fingers were keeping her busy as they passed over swell of her breasts, before squeezing hard, the tips puckered under his touch, she couldn’t decide if focusing in this or in his fingers moving inside of her at achingly slow pace.

Still sensitive and tired from the first time she mounted him against the door, he now had her against the shower wall – Why the shower? He had mumbled something she had not bothered to catch – Her back to him and while her hands had found support in the wall, his leg was between hers in case she loose her footing.

None of them were very vocal, but the acoustics allowed her to hear more than usual, and she found out she liked it a lot.

_“Dennis!?”_ The voice came from outside of the door.

That made him stop, too suddenly, much to her frustration when she was about to…

Not just that, he also turned on the shower, she wanted to complain but the only sound it came was a gasp when the water turned from cold to warmer, he pulled her into him, as the walls were slippery too now.

Ruri had no choice but to hold onto him and to burrow her face into his throat

“What is it Sora?” He said, loud enough to be heard by him.

_“Are you taking a shower **again**?”_ Even through the wall she could hear his disbelief.

“It's summer and I got sweaty…and dirty.” She couldn’t believe how easily the lies spew from him.

Except, yeah, she did believe it.

“We've been in summer for over a month and I have never seen you take a shower this late.” For gods sake why was this kid so insistent? Couldn't he get a hint and leave?

But more than all, she couldn’t believe that this situation was exciting her… there were thrills running all over her body and given how closely they were pressed she could feel it was affecting him too.

She could feel his gasps again.

“Well Sora you should hurry and reach puberty and then you'll understand how much you body changes afterwards.”

There was the sound of a foot kicking the door and several stomps and fortunately no more questions.

Ruri couldn’t be more relived and she shifted her position to allow him slide between her legs. He started to move slowly back and fort against her, and she let out a loud moan every time the tip nudged against her nub.

“Now…” She told him through gritted teeth.

Maybe it was the water or something else but she didn’t want to waste more time with foreplay.

“ _Dennis_!” It cost all her willpower not to tell him to go away this time, mostly because his voice was now laced with amusement, as if he found out something funny. “ _I found a coat on the couch, a **woman's** coat._”

Dennis was startled enough by the comment that when she shifted further to finally have him inside her – the kid knew why did it matter anyway? - , he gave a loud moan.

There was a heavy silence that followed, because there was no more questioning on what was happening.

“Whatever…” The kid spoke again, Ruri could tell he tried to sound nonchalant but there was an edge to his voice, and awkward edge. “…Just let me know when I can leave my room safely.”

They were both quiet for a few seconds, until the paces in the floor grew distant.

“I can’t believe that just happened.” Dennis murmured in her ear, it looked for a moment even as he was still buried inside of her as he was trying to decide if they should call it off or not, so she grabbed him so she could kiss him again, and soon she had him thrusting against her in synch with their lip lock.

She pulled him until her back his the shower wall, where she could finally relax her body against and urged him to go faster.

There were no more sounds other than water falling and her hips slamming against the tiles.

.

.

.

_“Are you sure it’s safe? I mean I could-" She shut him up placing a finger on top of his lips._

_If Kaito knew, he would tell her off, for being an idiot, that pregnancy was not the worst that could happen, but if anything she trusted Dennis on not fooling around._

_Also, using something else would mean he’d get more involved, pill she could handle herself and keep pretending…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this chapter was a trip, I had this in the back burner for a while and I finally wrote it, I hope it didn't look too weird or forced.  
> Now, I can take "writing shower sex" from my bucket list :'D


	3. Perfect Entanglement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is yet another installment in the AU where Rin and Reiji are in an arranged marriage, you should really read the other two fics: [ Perfect Arrangement ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15223481) and [Perfect Commitment.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17442284)

“You left this at my car last time.” Reiji said after a quick greeting, handing her a bunch of manga and comics she had taken up to read whenever Divine wasn’t around.

“Thank you,” She said, and she meant it, because this wasn’t something he could simply deliver through Nakajima or any assistant whose message or package would definitely pass via her ‘father’. God forbid he caught her reading them and chastise her yet another unsightly hobby for a young heiress, or sometimes if he felt like dealing a low blow, he would question her commitment to college if she had time to waste like that.

“I’ll be taking my leave.” He said but before he fully turned around Rin reached for his shoulder, except he was too tall so instead she ended up grabbing his scarf.

“Uh… I meant, wait.” She swallowed before she spoke again. “Why don’t you stay? I’ll invite you something to drink or we can spare time, playing videogames or something.” Divine had blocked the networks to avoid her from using them, but she had since hacked the sorry security he hired and did whatever she want when he wasn’t around.

Reiji turned around regarding her with those same scrutinizing eyes of usual, it used to unnerve her, but she had since learned that this was simply his default face most of the time.

“Oh?” He said and his smile caught her off guard for a second. “Have the etiquette classes finally started to rub on you?”

Ugh, those dammed classes, of course he knew she took them because one time Himika sent him to pick her up from one of them, and had witnessed the disaster of her throwing a tea into the face of the instructor after she made some snide comments about her hair.

“Oh, if the mighty Reiji Akaba does not want my consideration, then he’s welcome to walk away and drive all the way to his office during rush hours.” She said with a smirk of her own, which widened when he looked to the side, pulling his scarf to muffle a laugh.

“If you insist.” He conceded and stepped in he- the apartment – never hers – with the same grace and elegance as every Akaba seemed to possess.

She pointed to the black couch in the middle of the living room, in front of the large screen… and nothing else, the place was very spare and ‘minimalistic’ as Divine liked to put it, even the walls had nothing hanging from them except for a mirror, and a random painting that was supposedly postmodernist.

Rin was quick to hide the books under her mattress and pull the console from a shoebox next to her bed.

“Well, what do you feel like doing? Killing zombies with military armament or see if you can beat me in a race with princesses, plumbers and a long etcetera?” His single raised eyebrow told her that she could choose whatever she wanted.

Zombies it was then, she really needed to release some steam.

.

.

.

“NO FAIR!!!” She yelled at the screen again, after his team had decimated hers, again, for the fifth time actually. “How did you even got that improved gear?!”

He didn’t answer of course, because he had already said once some nonsense about her having to find out herself, if not, then it truly be unfair.

“It must be those ape-like hands of yours,” Rin blurted out, slapping her hands on his shoulder. “It’s easy to reach everything with them.”

“Are you implying my hands are somehow helping me cheat?” He said, half-serious and half-incredulous.

“Bleh, for a goodie-two-shoes you’re really fond of flamethrowers.” She said sticking out her tongue out to him.

And then she couldn’t put it back.

Because he was using two of his fingers to keep it in place.

“Who would have said? It really is easy to reach anything with my hands.” Reiji had the gall to adjust his glasses as if he made some important breakthrough.

She wanted to yell at him, but couldn’t, so she did the next best thing: she pounced him.

Of course that had him rolling onto his back and then just to spite him she crawled towards him just so he wouldn’t get up, not because he couldn’t, but because gentleman that he was, he wouldn’t dare to throw her aside.

“I can’t believe you did that!” She said, half-yelling and half-laughing, “Gross, now I won’t be able to scrub the taste of your fingers off my mouth.”

Rin waited for an answer to her jab, maybe something about how he was the one who had to worry because of bacteria or something equally bookish; but he said nothing, actually he had gone very quiet.

When she looked down, his face was turned, staring hard at the wall, even his eyes were as removed from her as they probably could.

“Rin, please move.” He said in a very low tone, but the strain underneath was palpable.

She recognized that expression, and at the realization she lowered herself until her body was almost lying on him, and her face was mere inches from his.

“Really?” She asked, dropping her voice a bit. “Why?”

“You know why.” He said this time Reiji was looking straight at her, but never lower than her face.

“Maybe I want you to say it.” Rin said this lacing her voice with a playful tone, and her hands, slowly, very slowly went from his shoulders, to his chest, then to his abdomen where she was playing with the hem of his sweater.

“Rin,” He said, the strain in his voice was even more noticeable now, and he made a halfhearted attempt to prop himself up, she simply moved her hips to fully rest on top of him, his eyes closed and his hand motioned as if he was about to move her.

Or he would have if Rin didn’t close the distance between them.

They had not kissed or done anything remotely of the like since that gala, and she could tell he did not expect any of this to happen again, or at least any time soon, and he was responding slowly, almost in a shy way, his lips sliding carefully against hers and sighing when she laid her whole weight on him. His hands were leaving feathery touches on her, first on her arms and shoulders, then to rub small circles on her nape.

It was an almost reverent touch; one she was not used to at all, but it still had her trembling with anticipation.

His of his hands started to trace a path from her ear to her neck, then just above the hem of her top where the swell of her breast begun and how she wished for those brief seconds that he touched her.

Rin could do nothing but whine against his mouth when his hands barely grazed the contours and went to her back instead.

And he stopped kissing her, when she opened her eyes to ask what was wrong, his gaze was locked in hers, Rin felt mesmerized by the pure longing that she saw and she could tell the exact moment when his mood shifted because his hold tightened against her body, and when she gasped at the feeling, he restarted the kiss.

This time she can feel his hands digging his fingers almost painfully in her hips and her back, keeping her in place while their lips slide and entwine together, over tongues and even teeth; but it’s not the fast desperations that she sometimes experienced with others before, no, he still takes his time.

As if he was savoring the experience.

It was impossible that she too, would not be swept into the feeling too.

So much that she only distantly registered the door opening and the few steps given into the apartment.

In what it felt like a flash, she felt herself begin shoved back, almost a bit too harsh from him, but not hard enough to tumble her or anything, in fact Reiji’s hands held onto her shoulder to keep her steady.

But that was not as surprising as seeing the color draining from his face, his eyes wide with shock and maybe even the slightest bit of fear.

Even before she turned around, Rin already knew who had entered.

The whistle full of mockery and appreciation all at the same time only made it worse, and she was faced with Divine’s face looking on the side, but not in embarrassment, but more as If he was holding back his laughter.

“My bad,” He said, his voice filled with amusement. “I only came to check on you Rin-chan.” She hated that he called her that all the time, even when he nagged her, as if she was a child or a funny pet.

“Sir, we didn-” Both of them were now scrambling to get up and look somewhat less of a mess than they had been before, and failed obviously.

“Hey, no worries, I’m leaving already, I can see she is in very _good hands_.” Oh, that was definitely a low blow that had her fuming inside. “You kids don’t stop on my account.”

That was the only thing he said as he grabbed a suitcase in a nearby table and left without another word.

Rin could do nothing except let herself collapse on the couch and attempting to sink her face into a cushion and maybe die of embarrassment.

If she knew it would be this mortifying she wouldn’t have…

“You planned this, didn’t you?” Reiji said, and he was sitting on the opposite side of her now, he was glaring at her, no, not his usual analyzing look, but she could actually tell his eyes held some anger, his arms and legs crossed, as if waiting for an explanation.

Sadly, she had none.

“There is no way you could have known he was coming,” He started again, this time he was looking at the wall, closing himself entirely from her. “You’re always complaining about his constant check-ins, and then mock him because he doesn’t bother to rotate times so you can always look your best when he arrives.”

“I… I had to,” At this his glare was back on her, and she felt herself flinch, she had anticipated that he would realize – he was a genius after all – she had definitely anticipate his anger, but she hadn’t anticipated how awful it would feel to be in the receiving end of it. “he managed to get ahold of my old phone and saw me exchanging texts with an old friend – I swear he was just a friend - from… before, and he got angry, thinking I was ‘giving away myself’ for some penniless nobody, he called me ungrateful kid, and threatened me with pulling me out from college so I could focus on my goals.”

Divine saw her as barely a notch above a pretty bargaining chip, and if she wanted to survive him, then she needed to convince him how ‘serious’ she was about snatching a ‘good catch’ and in Divine had been incredibly more lenient when she caught Reiji’s interest.

Was It so bad that she used it to her advantage? Just once?

Rin only needed to look at him, his anger trying to hide the shame he felt and even the slightest bit of betrayal, to realize that, yes, it really had been _that_ bad.

She wanted to tell him, that she had planned to tell him everything beforehand, at some point before they got caught into the stupid game.

She wanted to tell him that despite everything she had not pretended her attraction to him, not in the slightest.

But even in her head, it all sounded like excuses.

“For what is worth, I do like you,” She said, not looking at him, fearing his response. “…a lot actually.” She felt herself smiling recalling their first date when she had told him the exact opposite. “But if you feel you cannot trust me anymore, then it’s fine if you want to call everything off.”

She heard him give a long sigh and she prepared herself for the blow.

“I should apologize too,” Reiji said, and she felt him shift in the couch, he was now sitting in a contemplative position, his hands crossed in front of him. “I often forget your real position with him, and take things for granted about you.”

Rin wasn’t sure what she was feeling right not, she only knew that it was spreading from her chest to her entire body and it was making her feel light as a cloud.

“You still should have told me; I would have helped you.” When she turned to look at him, he coughed in his hand. “…obviously I would have chosen a less… exhibitionist method, but still, you played with the cards you _thought_ you had available.”

Rin was still speechless, so she only found herself nodding.

“Maybe one of these day I will think of a method in which you can make it up to me though.” He said in a completely serious voice, but the way he smiled at her, almost in a mock-nagging way made her laugh.

She still felt light-headed for the entire day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here's my third fic for this week, and I gotta say that I was dying to write more of this AU, because it has really gorwn on me, I hope you guys enjoy this one.  
> Also, yes, Divine is a shitty (adoptive) father, anyone else is surprised? No? Okay :P


	4. We Could be Legends...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who don't know, Escapeshipping refers to the ship of Asuka with the Red Osiris Girl she tried to escape with from Academia.

They arrived at the Academy in the same boat.

It’s not like she actually noticed it at first, after all every boat had at least one hundred kids, all turned 12 and ready to he enlisted and serve their home. During the trip even as they are sent away with cheers of pride, good wishes and happiness, almost none of them ever talks on the way.

Everyone is too nervous about what to expect, almost everyone is peering over the rail of the boat the moment the island’s first peak comes into view.

At first she thinks it looks like a fairytale castle, with its large brick walls and towers and plenty of forests surrounding it, giving it a mysterious air.

She was so excited.

Especially when after they finally arrived, they were all received with more fireworks and even some music, there were consecrated officers giving some of the students a warm welcome, and lots of the older students had been allowed to ditch classes so they could see their future classmates.

Everyone was quickly split into groups.

That was when she first saw her: A girl with a sandy blonde hair and brown eyes, a bright and warm smile that had her surrounded by lots of students, both boys and girls.

And she found herself being one of them.

How could she not, when she was beautiful, and friendly, and unlike her, she easily moved from one conversation to the other?

She found herself hoping that she could get closer to her, that they could become friends, and then maybe become each other’s confidante about their secrets and insecurities they both had?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a person with a loud speaker, who was calling everyone’s names and asking them to form groups as he told them so.

Even as she was called by the farthest away group from the other girl – Asuka, she’d heard – her eyes remained glued to her, hoping that maybe she would look back.

But she didn’t.

.

.

.

It took barely a year before Asuka became quickly known as the ‘queen’ of the Academia, not only she had been the youngest soldier so far to earn an obelisk blue rank, she was also the one with the most wins in dueling practice, everywhere she went, people would turn their heads to gaze at her or just to say hello.

Not her though, she wanted to, but she chickened out every time.

Why? Because on the other hand, she had barely been scrapping by every single performance test they took, so she would be forever relegated to stay as a Red Osiris foot soldier, there were a lot like her, they all huddled together for safety – because many of the high ranked students saw them a practice fodder – but she couldn’t say they were really friends, personal chat was strictly avoided within in classes, hallways and ever the dorms, they were always training or taking classes one way or another, and except for a measly half an hour of breakfast, and two other ones for dinner and lunch – all of them healthy foods and bars to boost their performance – as it always happened she blanked into the background.

It definitely was… different from what she had been told life at Academia would be.

But whenever she looked at Asuka, so easy-going and confident, it seemed that she did lived to the honorable and brave life of a future soldier, she felt, that maybe she was the one doing something wrong, maybe things weren’t so bad.

.

.

.

“You are the first platoon that will go forth and start our glorious mission! The one that will unify all the dimensions and bring about a utopia! And for that all of you, will become legends, as the ones who set the foundation of the Arc V!!!”

Every single one of her classmates roared, and she made her best attempt at imitate them.

If she was honest, she was more scared than excited.

She could not help but notice that every single one of the frontline soldiers where Red Osiris students like her; that the Yellow Ra soldiers were assigned as black ops or in other specialized platoons, that the Blue Obelisk were all standing near the commander and their mission was to lead them all.

She did not see Asuka.

.

.

.

Fire, there was fire everywhere, the only good thing was that the flames helped her focusing on something else other than the screams and the laughter.

After a while all the awful sounds melted into a cacophony so intense that it felt as if the earth would split apart.

She did not do much at first, not like she didn’t try, like everyone she had her duel disk ready to attack at the first sight of danger.

Everyone but your comrades are the enemy, they had told them all.

But how could that be true when the first thing she saw was a peaceful plaza filled with people who looked no different than the ones back at home?

Those couple seconds of doubt was all it took when she was shoved aside by her own unit who were all gladly turning everyone into cards, it didn’t matter that they weren’t attacking or even that they were running, the order was to get everyone.

After those awful moments she did nothing much but run and hide, sometimes she hid inside other units pretending to march forward in an attack, and then she would duck and leave when everything got too heated for them to notice.

She came back at night to the nearest camp and lied her way through showing off her skills and how many people she had gotten – all of them cards she had found in the ground – and she would eat her rations silently, at first none of it stayed in her belly for too long, but she had learned to push it down and force the nausea out of her mind.

That was until the Commander Phoenix entourage had come to inspect the camp she was at, everyone got pulled out of their dinner time and were demanded to give their duel disks for maintenance.

She had allowed herself to sigh in relief.

It did not last long, because in the middle of the night she was singled out from her unit, one of the techs had shoved her in front of the Commander so she could explain why according to the data registries, her duel disk had not carded any single target.

She could not run, could not fight any of them off, and she was completely surrounded, she stood there, quiet and her head low awaiting for punishment.

But then she heard some strangled cries from her side, and when she turned to see, two Red Osiris soldiers, with their uniforms almost completely in rags, their hands and feet immobilized, their bodies filled with bruises, they were begging for mercy from the Commander, that they didn’t want to take innocent lives, that they only did what their hearts told them.

She was given back her duel disk, and one of the Obelisk Force pointed at the two groveling soldiers.

“This is your chance to prove that you are not a traitor like them.” And she understood what she was expected to do.

What it would await her if she didn’t.

Her duel disk shined in the dark and with a trembling hand, she finished them off.

Their two cards falling in the ground.

She was applauded by her comrades and told by them that she was expected to perform like that every time.

She did not sleep very well that night, nor any other night.

.

.

.

 _‘Why is everyone laughing?’_ She kept asking herself, as she hurried along the hallways of the Academy.

She thought that it would be a relief to come back, at least in the Academy she didn’t have to card people, at least she was not expected to laugh about that. But everyone received them as heroes, as the legends they were promised to come back as for their efforts.

Now that the way was cleared the second platoon would face less difficulties.

Every pat on the back was a reminder of what she had done, every laugh turned into a cry in her ears, and every compliment was an order to card more people.

She needed to leave, she had to leave.

But she couldn’t do it alone, she would be track down and carded in no time…

That was when he heard a voice: Asuka.

Her smile was kind as always, not cruel or arrogant, her words were like a beacon of light after so many ashes and fire.

She could not let war to ruin her like it ruined her.

And with someone as strong as her, then she could possibly find a way out, they could both be free, and look out for each other.

For the first time in years, she was happy.

.

.

.

The first thing Asuka saw once the light that blinded her eyes dispersed, was the tears running down Emma’s face, as if apologizing for not being good enough.

But that was wrong, because it was her the one who had not been strong enough to protect her, who had been too blind to see what was happening right in front of her eyes, if it had not been for her...

“Asuka… you’re okay? It thought that… because I failed… you too…” Her tears become all blown bawling, until Asuka took her hands between hers.

“I’m fine Emma, and now you’re fine as well.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I don't know what to say, since this is the first time I've written this ship, I hope it turned out somewhat decent, even if I ended up focusing more on the angst part ^^'  
> Fun fact: The reason I chose to name her Emma at the end, is because of the meaning of the name which is "whole" or "universal".


	5. Break

“Just tell me what I did wrong.” Kaito said the moment she got out of the women’s locker, and Asuka almost jumped back, because he couldn’t come at a less convenient time.

She just sighed and pushed him softly so he would let her pass, he put little resistance, but the moment she withdrew her hand, his was quick to catch it, entwining his fingers with hers.

It took all of her to let it go and keep walking.

.

.

.

“Kaito-kun, can we talk?” Yusho said behind him, just as he was about to leave for the day. And he had to restrain himself from answering with a rude ‘What?’ and he turned around after convincing himself that he would not snap at his teacher.

“…Yes, is something wrong?” Of course he already knew what was wrong.

“I apologize, but yes, it seems like once again I got complains about today’s class, OTK, in dueling practice you did nothing but OTK every single one of your students, and not just that but the feedback you gave them was way too curt and harsh…” He went on and on, and Kaito tried not to face palm, wishing he just get on with it, behind his teacher he saw that Asuka was already on her way of leaving and he felt a frown set on his forehead and he balled his fists. “… I like that you’re stricter and have higher standards and that works for your older students who get quickly annoyed of being coddled but…”

Unfortunately, Yusho, being his annoyingly usual self, noticed where his eyes were looking to and he had to watch how Asuka waved him goodbye but didn’t do the same for him.

Their teacher stared blankly at him, and then back at Asuka’s retreating figure before his eyes widened.

“Ah…” He said as a way of reaction when the realization hit him, Kaito supposed that even the great Yusho Sakaki could get short of words. “… I do not wish to get my nose on your personal business, but maybe you should talk to someone?” Whatever look Kaito gave him, it made Yusho chuckle and put his hand up before he could protest. “Before you tell me that it’s not necessary, I’ll remind you that one of your students told me your dueling gave him the chills, and it was not the good type.”

.

.

.

She missed him.

Somehow, her bed felt incredibly larger and colder than before, and it gave her no comfort to lay in it, and just like all the days as of recent, sleep had been eluding her, at least until her body was too exhausted and it gave in, but it was a restless sleep.

All because of the same nightmare, every time.

.

.

.

_“Fubuki that’s cheating!” Asuka, feeling much smaller than usual yelled at her brother – also, much younger – before kicking his shin, he was always so good at hiding how much it hurt and he simply lifted her against her will bearing with her kicks until she tired herself._

_“I can’t help it Asuka, you’re my only and cutest little sister and whenever we play hide and seek I get so scared that I might lose you forever!” His face always morphed into the ugliest most ridiculous sobbing expression ever whenever he got into one of his moods._

_“You’re so dumb,” She said puffing her cheeks and sticking out her tongue to him before turning her back on him. “And I’m not so little anymore! I won’t get lost.”_

_“Of course not Asuka, you’re smart.” His voice sounded older again, and suddenly she felt very cold, and the garden disappeared, leaving instead a deserted wasteland. “I’m the dumb one who got lost.”_

_His voice was so far away, and when she turned around she was alone, in the sand there was nothing except his duel disk._

_._

_._

_._

She awoke to a soft knocking on her door, the clock on her nightstand said it was almost midnight, and there was only one person who ever visited that late.

Asuka should let him keep knocking, she shouldn’t be getting up, and walking towards the door, luckily enough the rational part of her brain won at the last moment, just as she was about to open.

“Go home, Kaito.” She told him loud enough, and got no answer whatsoever, but the faint light under the door frame she could see two feet still standing there.

“You’re the one who called me a coward before…” He started, to her surprise he didn’t sound angry or accusatory. “…And now, I’m the one who had to wake up to a text message of you saying that we need a break right before blocking me?”

Yeah, that had been stupid, blocking someone who you saw every day at work anyway.

“Why are you here.” She asked after pondering many answers and being unhappy with every single one.

“For an explanation, you can give me that at least.” He said and she could tell he was now leaning on the door because he sounded closer. “Just tell me what I did, so I won’t make you upset anymore.”

“This is not about you Kaito, it’s because of me, and…” She had to stop before her voice broke down, how could she tell him? That someone had found Fubuki’s old duel disk and cards, but no sign of him anywhere? How could she tell him that she learned from others the fame he had in the battlefield? That after learning about it, she had been assaulted by equal amounts of guilt, disgust and regret? That because of his cruelty he was most likely dealt in a more definite way? That she had no idea if that brought her sadness or relief?

No, Kaito had done nothing wrong, she was the one who had no right to be with him, because of what she learned about him, it was like a weight in her heart, waiting to crush both of them?

So, she let him go before any of that happened.

“So that’s it? You had your fun and now you discard me like some old toy?” Now she finally heard some anger in his voice, good, dealing with his anger was far easier. “…You can try to pretend all you want, maybe some time ago I would have believed you capable of it, but now I can’t. Even if you say I did nothing wrong, I know… at least I think I know, you were the one always asking things about me and my life before war…and only now I realize I have never done the same.”

Why? Why? _Why?!!_ Why did he have to be such a gentle person?

Against her better judgement she finally opened the door, to find him leaning in the doorframe, he made no motions to enter of close the distance between them, but she could tell he wanted to.

Because tears were streaming down her face.

“Fine, I lied.” She said, aware that her sniffles were making her no favors. “Happy now?”

Kaito took that as a sign that he could embrace her, and Asuka was so thankful because finding herself so close to him was a relief, as if she could finally breathe. She could tell it had a similar effect on him, because he burrowed his nose in her hair and took a deep breath.

There was nothing sensual about this moment, but somehow it felt more intimate than any other touch they ever shared before, and she was content with it.

“Is it okay if I stay or…?” He said, withdrawing the slightest bit from her, only for her to pull him back.

“Stay.” She didn’t feel like sleeping alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't have a rare pair week without robust right? This time I had exploring a bit more on Asuka's issues, with the special guest being her brother, I based his bit of grusome story on the persona he used in the early GX episodes, and... well had to come off with an explanation why he wasn't around. I don't hate him or anything (He's one of the few gx characters i find genuinely funny lol)
> 
> Edit: I forgot to add, there's a very japanese brand of guilt and moral obligation from Asuka here, as a defector she cut her ties from Academia, and never commited war crimes so she has little need to make up for anyone there, but now that she know Fubuki did some grusome things as her family member she "shares" part of the responsability now, she tried to break it off to Kaito cuz him as a direct sufferer from the war makes it "wrong" (in the moral sense) to be with him. (In fact, in a more traditional japanese outlook of it happened that Fubuki did something to a blood relative of Kaito, he technically can demand anything from Asuka including to forfeit her life, a type of 'eye for and eye' justice)  
> In a more personal level she is afraid that he will come to hate her when he learns of his brother.


	6. Promenade

For what felt like the nth time he checked the hour.

It was barely a quarter past noon, a mere 2 minutes after he last checked; maybe he had arrived a little too early, maybe it was only a good habit for business related appointments, because if someone would have warned him that time would pass so achingly slow, that he would constantly turn his head around in mild panic whenever he heard someone calling to other people, that he would feel stared at by every person who realized he was waiting for someone, then he would have simply arrived at the nick of time.

But his mother always remarked him that it was highly improper to leave someone, let alone a girl waiting.

Then he heard it.

A soft humming that stood out to him in the middle of all the people and the noise, he recognized the song, it was a very popular one that was everywhere these days, and for a moment he focused on the tune.

It was remarkable how good the hum was able to pin down every high and low of the song, even when the melody slowly fades out in silence.

“Reiji?” A voice, _her_ voice, pulled him out of his focus and he turned around to see Yuzu standing in the middle of their meeting point – under the clock – looking very different from what he was used from her.

Gone was her usual, sports-like clothes that were made for her rather active lifestyle, whether she was running, jumping, or doing gymnastics of some type. He loved seeing her like that, it was not the same as seeing people doing laps around the city’s park, with purpose and force in mind. Reiji always got the image of a carefree nymph playing freely, being one with her environment without effort on her side.

Now, she was wearing sandals, with slightly high heels and very pale pink strips, she was wearing a dress of a pale blue color, the skirt reaching just above her knees and it was sleeveless, it was not low cut but he was met with her almost bare shoulders and how the fabric pressed just enough to subtly make out her body beneath the clothes.

It was already a hot day, but for the first time in the entire day, he actually felt the warmth spreading completely through him.

“You look…” His tongue chose a very inconvenient time to be tied. “…different.” He said, looking to the said, hoping to hide his embarrassment, it didn’t help that she tilted her face and had a slight smile, the exact expression she used when she felt like teasing him for a bit.

“Different good I hope?” She said, closing a good deal of distance between the two of them in three strides, leaning her face towards him.

He leaned just the slightest bit towards her in return.

Right before she withdrew half a step, letting out a giggle of whatever expression she got him to do.

Then, she gave him a once over, and he felt his heart feeling a little bit tighter inside his own chest, even though he knew that was scientifically impossible.

“You look different too.” She said, and he felt self-conscious of his outfit – picked by both his mother and Nakajima no less, because they both looked appalled that he planned to go in his usual clothes – dress black pants and a white shirt (he managed to convince her mother to let him wear a red undershirt when he noticed the fabric was slightly see-through) and matching dress shoes, it was silly but his neck felt slightly exposed without his scarf, but he also wasn’t used to the open neck or the seams to feel so different.

“Since this is our first…date.” The word felt so strange for him to say. “I thought it was appropriate.” He said, feeling the thumping going up in frequency to the point he felt his ears pulse.

“You look good, Reiji.” She said grabbing his hand and making him start to walk beside her, while she hooked her hand in the nook of his arm. “Different, but good.”

Reiji thought that it was strange how so few words had such and strong effect on him.

“Thank you.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because lately I've written such emotionally loaded fics for them, this time I decided for somthing lighter and fluffy and the theme of the first date came up lol


End file.
